Fantasy Football Captain Picks

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 18 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 18 I haven’t even been able to keep up with my Advent calendar(s), let alone FPL trends this month (it’s hard to resist buying two when they’re £1 in Morrisons) and yet here I am: sat up in bed, fuelled by 2 x 18 pieces of chocolate for breakfast, trying to provide your game-weekly dosage of captaincy advice. The looming deadline — at 19:00 on Friday due to the FNF action — marks the start of an annual Christmas bonanza. We’ll be treated to 40 matches in a mere fortnight; 38 festive clashes occur within a 12-day period of what promises to be FPL chaos. It’s a deadline that’s also indicative of the traps that such a busy schedule lays out for managers. Many a mini-league has been dominated by the f...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 17 Huzzah! It’s that time of year again! No matter how bad one’s year is going, you can always rely on Christmas* to lift the spirits. (*Other festive celebrations are available). Sure, it would be so easy to fall into the trap of being a naysayer, deriding the flaws of how the relentless onslaught of TV’s multitudinous, twee commercials guilt-trip the working-class into spending more than they can afford. Pfft. Go home Scroogey McScroogeface. Nor will this writer blather on about how the festive period perpetuates the shallow fiction that materialism provides any kind of genuine, lasting happiness. That kind of negativity has NO place in this, the merriest of seasons, let me assure you. It’s a time to let our hair down to som...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 16 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 16. Much like the other day with AT, you only have me in this shortened gameweek (other than the Site Team) and again like the other day I’ll only be looking at who we should give the armband to. That may not be what you readers necessarily want but it is the most important question at this, or indeed any time of the season. We are rounding the corner into silly season and that means rotation, rotation, rotation and the biggest worry we all have is that our ‘primary’ captain is suddenly rested. And in some extreme cases, as evidenced in this past midweek, the back-up one is too! You can either man (or indeed woman) up or cry off home with your ball like Rosco. Every line-up matters now...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 15 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 15. You have just got me this week. Sorry about that. Well, that is not strictly true; the site team will be posted too. I saw that it was almost unanimous amongst site readers that you would have preferred to read Tips. Sorry about that. Hopefully my spreadsheet at least partly bridges the gap. If you take anything from this article, it should be that the deadline for Gameweek 15 is this Tuesday at 18.45. That’s right, the most important piece of information in this article is already on the website (in the top-right corner). It even comes with a countdown. Flashy. And before reading this article, in an attempt to make sure that everyone who reads it is in a good mood, make sure you watch Divock ...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 13 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 13. Twelve weeks of moving our captain’s armband between the home fixtures of Aguero and Salah with the occasional Hazard pick thrown in for good measure, we’ve had it easy. If not for my ill-fated Kane punt in GW8 I’d have a 100% captain success rate, I suspect I’m not alone. Well, I’m afraid such simplicity comes to a shuddering halt in what will undoubtedly be an unlucky for some GW13. With the three aforementioned go-to picks all playing away from home this week, we have a situation where there is no clear favourite. We may have to actually take some risks this week. Shudder. In my opinion, weeks like this are what make this game so compelling; pick the right man and you could make up se...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 12 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 12. It’s not even midweek yet — you probably haven’t had a chance to clean your bed sheets from last weekend’s action — but, given FPL’s intrinsic infidelity, it’s already high time to recommence the search for your next one-gameweek stand and gently feel thei- ok, I’m sorry, not again. We’ve reached November now; things are getting serious. Shall we discuss a selection of 5 players who’ve performed well recently? What a novel concept. If every FPL manager who read this weighed in afterwards, perhaps the consensus could be visualised via some sort of online poll, revealing the trustworthiest of long-term armband-bearers. Frankly, if the FF247 admin can continually clear up the digital mess that I ...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 11 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 11. In previous iterations of Fantasy Football Captain Picks, I’ve reached out to the world of social media; dipped into our mailbox; conducted a book review and even rewritten history as a work of fiction. This has led to accusations that I rely on gimmicks to get through these articles in a thinly veiled attempt to disguise my lack of FPL expertise and to add variation in having to write about the same f***ing players every time. Undeniably these are allegations that have hit home rather hard, but it is important to take on board criticism and learn from it. This week’s Captain Picks comes to you in vanilla. Just a packet of ready-salted crisps. A forward defensive prod. A pass back ...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 10 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 10. Gameweek 9 did not run to the script, did it? So many players brought home one point this weekend I felt like I was getting the same sh*t gift over and over. International-break-favourite Eden Hazard managed just one point – his worst haul all season – to the delight of his three million owners. Teammate Marcos Alonso didn’t get the memo either, also managing just the one point – his worst haul all season – to the delight of his 2.6 million managers. And it wasn’t just the lunchtime kick-off; Callum Wilson, Matt Doherty and Marko Arnautovic re-wrapped Chelsea’s generous present and posted it to us again. In fact, it felt worse than that. They sent their present via a delivery company which pos...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 8 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 8.  Prior to my guest appearance on the FPL Surgery Podcast, I was asked what kind of FPL manager I was; ‘A conservative manager, prone to occasional, irrational moments of reckless abandonment’ was my response. Conversely this probably accurately describes my real life persona, although my fellow contributors who’ve actually met me would say its more like; ‘bloke who witters on a lot and falls asleep at dinner’; no less true. So I’m risk-averse, but on occasion behave a little ‘crazy’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people who describe themselves as ‘crazy’ (you’ll find people who say this seldom are), but every now and then I’ll do something that goes against the grain of how I normally...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 7 Welcome to Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 7. The introduction of continental competitions at this stage of the season always adds an extra film of sweat to the brows of FPL managers when choosing their captain. However, as in the case of Sergio Aguero (6 points) and Eden Hazard (3), an absence from starting team duties midweek can serve as a comforting hand on the shoulder, increasing their chances of selection at the weekend and emboldening that armband choice further. So it was somewhat surprising to see Sergio “I’m the fittest I’ve been in years” Aguero hauled off on the hour mark at Cardiff and Hazard turning in, by his own stratospheric standards, a lacklustre display at West Ham. Mo Salah (8) returned to scori...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 6 Welcome to Captain Picks Gameweek 6! Man City versus Cardiff; Liverpool at home to Southampton. I couldn’t believe my luck. The captain’s article would write itself. I’d barely need to pick up my pen. All I’d need to do was follow the basic rules of journalism: make it early. Make it short. And if you have to, make it up. However, when I rashly accepted the lucrative offer of writing articles for the site, I didn’t know I would be stepping into a wilderness of mirrors. European football is now with us. Rotation is certain to feature. Injuries will happen. So I came to realise that being offered week 6 was a test of my prophetic powers. Pass it and the gates open to further riches and prestige. Completely bodge it and the gates will be closed, for e...[Read More]

Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 5 Welcome to Captain Picks Gameweek 5! Proper football cannot come back soon enough. Fantasy football Twitter has dried up to the point that people are now analysing the difference Liverpool’s new specialist throw-in coach has had on the players’ throws. Apparently Andy Robertson can now throw to 69% more of the field than he could before. Some things are better left unanalysed. If there is anything worse than an international friendlies break, it is an international break where the ‘friendlies’ are dressed up as competitive matches. At least with friendlies I did not care when England lost, but this new league left me somewhat disappointed on Saturday night when Spain walked away victorious. Bring back friendlies, I say. That way the English could h...[Read More]